50 years later: Collecting the nearly 190 coins that make up complete Kennedy half dollar set a fun challenge

There are 125 date-and-Mint-mark combinations, plus a number of
different metals, strikes and finishes

Just two design types are known for the Kennedy half dollar: the original reverse, based on the Presidential Seal, and the Bicentennial reverse, used in 1975 and 1976 on dual-dated 1776–1976 coins. All coin images courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

This 1964 Kennedy half dollar is one of the mysterious pieces with a finish similar to those used on the Special Mint set coins of 1965 to 1967.
All coin images courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Editor’s note: In his August monthly Coin World cover
feature, Gerald Tebben looks back at the story of the John F.
Kennedy half dollar as the numismatic community celebrates the
coin's 50th anniversary. This is one of a series of articles from
this feature that will appear online at CoinWorld.com.

Collecting Kennedy half dollars can be challenging. The
series compromises more than 125 date-and-Mint-mark combinations,
three metals, more than a half dozen finishes, two reverse design
types and two subtypes. It also has one outstanding but little-known
rarity.

The Kennedy half dollar was initially produced in
90 percent silver. In the face of rising silver prices, the Mint
switched to 40 percent silver (silver-copper clad) coins in 1965.
Those were abandoned in 1971 for the current copper-nickel clad
pieces.

Over the decades, the coins have been struck in a
half dozen or so finishes (depending on who’s counting) — circulation,
Proof, Satin (2005 to 2010 Uncirculated Mint sets), Matte (Special
Mint sets), another kind of Matte (1998-S coins produced as part of a
commemorative Robert F. Kennedy package) and, for the 50th
anniversary, Reverse Proof and Enhanced Uncirculated.

Aside from minor modifications and changes resulting from lowering the
relief, in 50 years of production, the coin has had only one design
change, and then only for one year. Coins dated 1976, produced to
commemorate the nation’s Bicentennial, have Independence Hall on the
reverse instead of the presidential seal.

Interestingly,
there are only two significant subtypes — the first Proof coins struck
in 1964 had heavily accented hair (struck from dies bearing the hair
style that Mrs. Kennedy asked to be changed). The hair was toned down
after about 100,000 coins had been struck. Both types are readily
available, though Accented-Hair pieces are scarcer. Coin Values lists
Proof 65 Accented-Hair coins at $50 and regular hair pieces at
$18.

The rarest Kennedy half dollar is the enigmatic 1964
Special Mint Set half. The no-Mint mark coin, unrecorded in Mint
records, is known by perhaps a dozen surviving specimens, though some
estimates range as high as 50.

The nation’s Mints were
working flat out in 1964, trying to make headway against a persistent
coin shortage that was widely blamed on coin collecting. Adding to the
Mint’s misery was the 1963 rise in the price of silver above $1.29 an
ounce, making dimes on up worth more as metal than as money.

In 1965, the Mint replaced Proof sets with a less
labor-intensive product, Special Mint sets. Special Mint set coins
were carefully produced circulation strikes that exhibited a Matte
Finish. Initially despised by collectors as poor man’s Proofs, they
have come to be regarded as a distinct entity unto themselves.

No one knows why or where 1964 Special Mint set halves were
produced. The coins do not have a Mint mark, which generally would
indicate they were produced at the Philadelphia Mint. All other
Special Mint set coins, though, were struck at San Francisco and do
not bear Mint marks either.

The 1964 coins were possibly
produced as trial strikes for the 1965 to 1967 Special Mint set run;
some, however, believe they were produced as presentation pieces to
mark the end of 90 percent silver coins.

The 1964 coins,
which were unknown before 1993, appear in the market infrequently and
can bring high prices. A PCGS MS-67 1964 Kennedy half dollar with the
SMS finish fetched $16,100 at a Heritage auction in 2010.

The rarest Kennedy half dollar accounted for in Mint records is the
Matte Finish 1998-S silver version, with a mintage estimated at 64,141
(the number of sets sold). The coin was packaged with an Uncirculated
Robert F. Kennedy commemorative silver dollar in a “Kennedy Collectors
set ” that sold for $59.95.

The Uncirculated silver
dollar retails for $40 to $45, but the half dollar lists in Coin
World’s Coin Values at $100 in MS-63 (a very low grade for the coin)
and $150 in MS-67.

In 50 years of production, the Kennedy
half dollar has never seen much circulation. The 1964 90 percent
silver and 1965 to 1970 40 percent silver coins were pretty much
hoarded for their metallic content.

By 1971, when the
coin was first produced in copper-nickel clad, the denomination had
fallen out of favor. Most people preferred to carry quarter dollars
than heavy halves. Since 2002, the coin has been minted solely for
sale to collectors.

In MS-65 and below, most Kennedy
half dollars are common and inexpensive, retailing for just a few
dollars each. At MS-66, though, prices jump markedly, especially for
the 40 percent silver-copper clad halves of 1965 to 1970, which run
about $200 each.

In MS-67, the 40 percent silver coins
jump past the $1,000 mark, with the 1967 coin topping the Kennedy
totem at $4,500, according to Coin Values. With a mintage of 295
million, the coin is the most common Kennedy half dollar. Most,
though, were poorly struck. PCGS and NGC report only 17 coins at
MS-67, and none higher.

For 2014, the Mint is issuing
special gold, 90 percent silver and copper-nickel clad half dollars
marking the coin’s 50th anniversary. The portrait on these coins will
replicate the original designs from the 1964 sculpt. Over the decades,
the designs have been modified, especially through repeated reductions
in relief.

The silver coins will be issued in four
finishes, one from each Mint production facility: a Reverse Proof
2014-W coin from the West Point Mint, a Proof 2014-P coin from the
Philadelphia Mint, an Enhanced Uncirculated 2014-S coin from the San
Francisco Mint and an Uncirculated 2014-D coin from the Denver
Mint.

The silver and copper-nickel clad versions will
bear the date 2014. The gold coin will bear the double date 1964-2014
and have a W for West Point Mint mark on the reverse, the same
position that was used in 1964 for Mint marked coins.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.